Drum roll for our women Democrats- let them be "them"

Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris should not ‘simmer down’ one iota

We don’t need anyone ‘mansplaining’ on the types of Democrats who should run for office- opinion echo published in the Oakland California newspaper the East Bay Times. 

Senator from California, Kamala Harris, addressed the media January, 21 2019, at Howard University in Washington, DC, after announcing earlier in the day that she is seeking to become the first African American woman to hold the office of US president, joining an already-crowded field of Democrats lining up to take on (and get rid of....) Donald Trump. 

Kamala Harris joins Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and former housing secretary Julian Castro, among others, either in the race or exploring a run for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Nearly 22 months before the 2020 election, the battle for the White House is already firming up, as Americans begin to assess who might be the opposition party nominee to challenge Trump for control of the White House. 

Harris made the announcement on the national holiday honoring civil rights movement icon Martin Luther King Jr., whom she said her mother met. 

Letter writer references: Re: “Howard Schultz should be recruited to run as a Dem,” “Perhaps Schultz can show Democrats the way back,” “Wealthy need more say in allocating their tax dollars” (Letters to the editor, Feb 5):

Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen recently “mansplained” on the kind of people the Democrats should run for office and the kind of policies we should endorse (“Dems mad at Schultz for more than risking Trump’s reelection,” Eastbaytimes.com, Feb. 3). He advised Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren to “simmer down a bit,” and why taxing wealthy people is wrong.

Sorry, Marc, you are a Republican apologist, and you have no right to opine on the direction the Democratic Party should take.

We don’t need oligarchs to determine how much philanthropy they want to give us, we need just taxation to reverse the growing inequity caused by decreasing tax rates over the last 40 years, and a democratic decision-making process on how to spend our national wealth.

I don’t expect Marc Thiessen or Howard Schultz or any other billionaire to like it, and I don’t want Warren or Harris to simmer down one iota.    — Deborah Bayer, Richmond